A woman was tricked into handing over £700,000 under the belief that it would help a fraud investigation - and it looks like she's lost all of it, as a court has ruled that her bank has no responsibility to pay out.
Fiona Philipp transferred two large sums of money from Barclays bank account in 2018, sending £400,000 and £300,000 to accounts in the United Arab Emirates.
She had her husband had believed they were assisting with a serious fraud investigation, supposedly being led by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) watchdog.
Advert
Sadly, however, the couple were actually the ones being defrauded.
In a ruling today, a judge said Barclays bank is not liable to compensate for any losses, with Barclays saying Phillips had made her payments willingly.
The bank added that any further safeguarding checks would not have been able to prevent the elaborate scam, which began when Philipps' husband - who is a retired consultant doctor - received a phone call from someone claiming to work for the FCA.
The stranger said his bank and an investment company he had savings in were at risk of fraud, and that Dr Philipp had to transfer some of the cash into 'safe accounts' to keep the money safe before the investigation could be completed.
Dr Philipp said it felt like 'being squeezed in a very unpleasant vice, not knowing who to trust'.
Advert
He and his wife went to Barclays branches in Gloucestershire and Bristol to transfer £400,000 into what they thought were safe accounts.
After emailing copies of her passport and driving license to the fraudster, Mrs Philipp, a retired music teacher, made a second £300,000 transfer from a branch in Westbury-on-Trym.
An officer from Avon and Somerset Police had visited the couple three times to warn them that they were victims of fraud, having received intelligence from other police forces.
However, it wasn't until their third warning that Dr and Mrs Philipps accepted the heartbreaking truth.
Advert
A High Court judgement said the fraudster had managed to manipulate the couple so successfully, that they even allowed him to listen in on meetings they had at the bank.
When they finally realised that they were being defrauded, they were getting ready to process another £250,000, but thankfully the transfer failed after Barclays blocked any further outgoings.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: UK News, News, Money, Fraud